Christian responses to environmental concerns

Responses by the Roman Catholic Church

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Teachings by the Roman Catholic Church:

It is often said that the Catholic social teaching is the Catholic Church’s best
kept secret. Teaching on the environment is even less well known. However, there
are some recent Vatican documents that discuss ecology:

2002: Declaration on the Environment .
Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew issued a call to First World people to turn
away from unjust and destructive consumer culture. 1

1995:Evangelium Vitae: It deals with murder, contraception, abortion, and suicide;
it does not mention
biocide. 1

1993:Veritatis Splendor: It restates Catholic moral teaching,
but is silent on extinction. 2

1990:Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all Creation:
It is devoted exclusively to environmental concerns, but fails to acknowledge
overpopulation threats. 1

1990: The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility: It
discusses the emergence of a new ecological awareness, and views the ecological crisis
as a
moral crisis.6,7

1988:Sollicitudo Rei Socialis:
Three paragraphs on environmental degradation were inserted at a later
stage of drafting. Anthropocentric tone. As below, the Pope briefly admits that
there is a problem with population growth. 3,1

1987: Familiaris Consortio:
The Pope briefly admits that there is a problem with population growth. 3

1979:Redemptor Hominis contains references to the environment
which are not prominent. It is written from a human perspective. 3

1971:Octogesima Adveniens: The pope’s letter speaks about
the threats to environment. 1

1968:Humanae Vitae: This presents the
Catholic Church's position on birth control. 3,2

1967:Populorum Progressio:
Quotes ‘fill the Earth and subdue it’. It states that the introduction of industry
is
necessary, but is silent about the negative impact of industrialization on the
biosphere. 1,3

1965:Gaudium et Spes states that all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown.
3

1962-65: Vatican II Documents are favorable towards technology,
but contain no appreciation of its dark side or on its impact
on the biosphere.

This is a relatively large group of encyclicals and other of documents.
However, they express little sense of urgency. The environmental problems that are dealt
with by Vatican are mainly First World problems. Deforestation, desertification,
soil erosion, chemical poisoning of the soil, not to mention the effects of
overpopulation, are not emphasized. The few Vatican texts mentioning the growth
mania of the modern industrial consumer society. However, the data are not clearly
arranged, and the analysis is not sufficiently rigorous to challenge one of the most
strongly held tenets of our modern society. 1 The Vatican environmental teaching
is underreported 4, and appears to have little or no effect at the parish
level.

Pope John Paul’s the
Second (belated) concern for the environment was not shared by Joseph Ratzinger
who succeeded John Paul II as Pope Benedict XVI. In 1986, Joseph Ratzinger
(former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith) considered the
Greens a blend of ill-defined romanticism with elements of Marxism and even
stronger strains of liberalism – none of which he had much time for. 3,5

References used:

The following information sources were used to
prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still
active today.